Leopard slips into Marol, 2nd to do so in 6 months

MUMBAI: It wasn’t an April Fool joke when some residents of a housing society in Marol, Andheri (east), frantically called up neighbours on Monday morning to warn them of a leopard on the ground floor. A fruit juice vendor outside Woodland Housing Complex was among the first to notice the animal, found later to be a juvenile male aged around 2 years. He saw it go towards one of the towers within the complex and jump a wall. Then, a few residents saw it from their flats, mistaking it to be a rather large tomcat. But they quickly realized their folly. Soon, word spread. It was 9.30am and everyone shut themselves in. It was curfew.


This is the second time in six months that a leopard has been spotted in Marol. “The previous intrusion was at the nearby Sky View housing society,” said Intekhab Farooqui, a local politician. A month and a half ago, a leopard trekked from Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) to Thane’s Korum Mall area.

Monday’s visitor is believed to have entered the Marol complex through Aarey Colony, the boundary of which is some distance away, or through another rote from SGNP. Advocate Mahavir Rambhia, who was at the time in his office on the first floor of the tower Woodland Crest, said, “The leopard was near the lift, where our main intercom panel is located. We called one another on cellphone about the wild trespasser. Everyone remained in their flats for around five hours, until forest guards cornered the animal, tranquilized it and took it away to SGNP.”

The complex’s watchman, Mohit Lal, who saw the leopard from close range, said, “A resident from Crest’s second floor called me to say a big billi was in our compound, and asked me to shoo it away. I went towards the indicated spot with my lathi, but was shocked out of my wits to realise that it was a sher! I retraced my steps to the building and told the resident he almost had me killed!”

Around 11.30am, two rescue teams from the forest office reached the building. The leopard was last seen going towards the staircase from near the lift on the ground floor. By then, the fire brigade and the police had put up a net around the area, trying to confine the animal under the staircase. It took the forest teams three hours to tranquilize the leopard with a dart gun, after which it was taken away to SGNP.

“We will now conduct a human-wildlife conflict management programme at Marol in order to help locals deal with such a situation,” said deputy conservator of forests (Thane territorial) Jitendra Ramgaonkar.

Animal rights activist Sunish Subramanian from the Plant and Animals Welfare Society (PAWS-Mumbai) said it was fortunate that no one was injured in the Marol complex. “Instead of calling the leopard a trespasser, we must recognise that it is actually us humans who have trespassed into their territory by constructing buildings and roads in the SGNP’s buffer zone over the decades. The national park forest is hemmed in by human encroachment.”